Written By Abby and Mike H
After a beautiful start to the program at the heavenly EarthLodge above Antigua, the group braved the infamous hill out, and we made our way to Comalapa. A supermarket stop, winding roads, and way too much ice cream eaten with measuring spoons later, we arrived at our next destination: Long Way Home. Our main-man, Omar, showed us around the school and property where we would work and live. Flabbergasted by the resourcefulness and honorable mission of the organization, we could hardly sleep, excited for the week to come. Monday was our first early day, so you can imagine the surprise and delight we found when everyone shuffled in wearing hiking boots and bucket hats, eager to explore Comalapa. Omar oriented the group on the school we would help build sustainably with tire and plastic bottle walls, glass bottle sky lights, and cob (a mixture of dirt, sand, water, and pine needles forming a natural “cement”). We even learned to sharpen machetes and chop wood before hiking into the town of Comalapa, blessed by Omar with a story of the famous mural of Guatemala’s history, in addition to tours of the revolutionary Perens’ galleries. Tuesday met and exceeded all expectations of the work we would do at Long Way Home, including making cob by stomping in mud, throwing the mix at tires to make walls, and placing glass bottles in walls for natural sunlight, saving energy. No matter how tired, nothing would stop us from getting our favorite snack of chocofrutas (chocolate covered fruit) in town between batches. Tuesday ended with billiards night in Comalapa, and an exciting, and rainy, hike back to home-base. The unwavering morale held strong on Wednesday, working again on the new volunteer house as well as a floor to the school. Besides Omar’s favorite games throughout the day, one special activity the group enjoyed was a cooking class where the only tears shed were of laughter and chopped onions. The next day, we continued our hard work by helping laying the floor base for the school. After a long day, we wrapped up our week’s work of turning trash into fashion on our Rubbish to Runway project. We took some much needed rest before doing an activity learning about our different identities and respecting others. Friday was our last but most intense work day. Everybody brought their all to finish out the week. Although chocofrutas was closed, our enthusiasm never faltered. The day was full of activities such as a scavenger hunt led by us, Mike and Abby, dancing to music at cultural night, and a tortilla making class. Everybody was pumped to get an extra hour of sleep Saturday morning, only to be waken up by firecrackers for Mats’s 18th birthday, a common Guatemalan tradition. The special day started with a pancake breakfast at a local restaurant. We then continued our day by going to Iximche, a Mayan archaeological site. The ride wasn’t all smooth though, as our van broke down. We made the best of it by doing calisthenics at a park nearby. We finally got to the site and we were all blown away at the architectural genius of the Kaqchikel. The ride back was interrupted only by a stop at Pollo Campero, a Guatemalan fast food chain. Some students ate a bit too much food, and put them into a food coma. When we got back, everybody woke up to show off their painting talents in a class led by one of the cities great artists. The evening closed out with a birthday party featuring a Spiderman piñata. After some cake and candy, students got to packing for our long travel day on Sunday.
Sunday morning was another early one, as the group took a quick trip to the local market before hitting the road for our next stop, Xela. Thank you all for reading and stay tuned for more updates! Adios!
